Habakkuk 3:1

A. The introduction to the hymn 3:1

Habakkuk’s prayer is hymnic in form, like many of the psalms (cf. Psalms 16; Psalms 30; Psalms 45; Psalms 88; Psalms 102; Psalms 142), and it apparently stood apart from the rest of the book at one time, as this title verse suggests. "Shigionoth" may be the title of the tune that the prophet and later Israelites used to sing this song. But the Hebrew word is the plural form of the same word used in the title of Psalms 7, but nowhere else. "Shiggaion" evidently means a poem with intense feeling. So another view is that the Israelites were to sing it enthusiastically. The intense feeling, in both contexts where the word occurs, is a vehement cry for justice against sin.